Vie Eliot arrives in the small town of Vehpese, Wyoming with little more than the clothes—and scars—on his back. Determined to make a new life for himself after escaping his abusive mother, he finds that living with his estranged father brings its own problems. Then Samantha Oates, the girl with blue hair, goes missing, and Vie might be the only one who can find her. His ability to read emotions and gain insight into other people’s darkest secrets makes him the perfect investigator, with only one small he wants nothing to do with his gift. When the killer begins contacting Vie through a series of strange cards, though, Vie is forced to hone his ability, because Samantha was not the killer’s only target. And, as Vie learns, he is not the only psychic in town.

Vie Eliot has survived a new high school, an abusive father, and the murderous Mr. Big Empty. Now, as Vie searches for Mr. Big Empty, he also finds himself facing an unexpected how to be a good boyfriend. When a mysterious drifter named River disappears, though, Vie finds himself dragged into finding the missing boy. Vie’s psychic abilities have proved useful in the past, and once again they set him on the trail of a gruesome murderer. But the pattern of killings seems to make no sense, and as Vie tries to stop the murderer, he learns that the people he loves most are in terrible danger. And the killings may be much more personal than Vie has suspected.

Only days have passed since Vie Eliot’s murderous half-brother—a dangerous, out-of-control psychic—was stopped from killing the people Vie loves most, but Vie is ready for his life to return to normal. He has plans. Big plans. Make the cross country team, pick up his grades, and spend a lot of time with his boyfriend. On the day of cross country tryouts, though, Vie finds one of the teachers dead—and Vie refuses to believe that the death was a suicide. As he searches for the killer, or killers, he discovers that a conspiracy exists in the small town of a conspiracy that might be older and deeper than Vie first suspects, a conspiracy of drugs and human trafficking that might also be tied, in some way Vie can’t quite understand, to his own abilities—and to the other psychic abilities in his town. When the murderers turn their attention to Vie, though, he discovers that his powers might not be up to the task. He faces ghosts, ancient monsters, and even an evil substitute teacher, but unless he can confront his past, and the trauma that lies there, he might not manage to save the people he cares about. He might not even survive himself.

Months have passed since the events at Belshazzar’s Feast. Vie Eliot, reluctant psychic and self-appointed defender of the small Wyoming town called Vehpese, knows that trouble is coming, but for the time being, he wants to spend as many happy days as he can with his boyfriend. Until one night, two men arrive and blow up a car. They threaten to do more damage unless Vie leaves town. Immediately. That same night, a woman appears at Vie’s door, asking Vie to look for her missing children. The job seems simple: they have been taken by their estranged father. But in Vehpese, nothing is simple—especially not the disappearances of children. As Vie searches for the children, he discovers that he is not the only one looking for them. Worse, Urho Rattling-Tent and Lady Buckhardt, a seemingly immortal pair of supernatural creatures who have plagued the area for centuries, have begun to assemble an army, and Vie and his friends are outmatched. As time begins to run out for the missing children, Vie draws closer to a final battle with Lady Buckhardt and Urho, a battle he knows he is not prepared to win. Before he can conquer his physical demons, Vie must find answers about himself and his own past and what he has heard other supernaturals call the mortal sleep. Those answers might give him the knowledge he needs to defeat Urho and Lady Buckhardt—if the truth doesn’t break Vie first.